Our #AskTDS blog series answers a tenant, landlord or agent’s question every Friday. This week, Sandy Bastin, Assistant Director of Dispute Resolution at Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS), answers a landlord’s question: “I have heard about a TDS Deductions Template, what is this?”
TDS provides a wealth of materials, including guides, case studies and working documents, for landlords, agents and tenants to make the tenancy deposit journey as straightforward as possible.
Our End of Tenancy Guide contains the latest advice on what to do when a tenant is due to move out of a property, in particular, highlighting the key points to address before, during, and after a check-out inspection. TDS recommend that landlords and agents read the guide before deciding whether a deduction should be made from the tenants’ deposit.
Where the terms of the tenancy agreement have been broken, deductions from the tenancy deposit can be claimed for the cost of reinstating the property to the same standards of the check-in/inventory report, allowing for fair wear and tear, including professional and other third party costs.
To improve deduction negotiations, we’ve developed a useful Deposit Deductions Template – available to TDS members.
The template provides a solid structure that enables agents and landlords to be transparent about any proposed deductions they want to make from a tenancy deposit. It allows claims to be set out in a clear and succinct way, with evidence attached to support the claim.
To use the template effectively, we also offer a guide to using the deductions template. It identifies the key documents and evidence that the landlord should make available and outlines the simple stages required for its use.
Once a landlord or agent has identified any deductions they want to make from the tenants’ deposit, the completed Deductions Template can be used to set out the reasons for the deductions to the tenant.
The transparency of the process can also help tenants to better understand the reasons for deductions at an early stage, which can lead to fewer disputes.
In the event that an agreement isn’t reached and the deduction is referred to TDS’ disputes process, the completed Deposit Deduction Template will be a key piece of evidence. The details in the Proposal for deductions from the tenancy deposit, along with the supporting evidence (and any comments made by tenants), can be uploaded directly into the TDS Disputes Evidence Portal.
The Deposit Deduction Template is designed to make the process of requesting a deduction simple and available online, and our award-winning operations teams are on-hand should you require additional support.
About Sandy Bastin:
A qualified solicitor with many years’ experience practising and specialising in real estate, Sandy joined TDS in 2008 and is now Assistant Director of Dispute Resolution. Sandy is responsible for recruiting and training TDS adjudicators, providing continued support and mentoring to include quality assurance activity to ensure the high standards expected from TDS adjudication decisions are met.
About TDS:
Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) is a government-approved scheme for the protection of tenancy deposits; TDS offers both Insured and Custodial protection and also provides fair adjudication for disputes that arise over the tenancy deposits that we protect.
We provide invaluable training in tenancy deposit protection and disputes for agents and landlords through the TDS Academy as well as joining with MOL to provide the Technical Award in Residential Tenancy Deposits.
TDS Insured Scheme: where a TDS member can hold the tenancy deposits as stakeholder during the term of the tenancy.
TDS Custodial Scheme: where TDS hold the deposit for the duration of the tenancy.
TDS Academy: TDS provides property professionals with invaluable training in tenancy deposit protection and tenancy deposit disputes.
TDS Northern Ireland: TDS is Northern Ireland’s leading and only not-for-profit tenancy deposit protection scheme.
TDS can only comment on the process for our scheme, other deposit protection schemes may have a different process/require different steps. Content is correct at the time of writing.
These views are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the view of TDS, its officers and employees.
Other news stories
